This week I was feeling a bit of the winter blahs so I made Bahamian Grilled Chicken from Steven Raichlen's classic, The Barbecue Bible.

The chicken filled the prescription for the winter blues. It was moist with a subtle acidic twang, had a decent amount of heat without being too spicy, and was bright in color and flavor. Since I knew the habanero would make this spicy, I made up a cooling sauce to go with it.

Rinse the chicken and pat dry. Place it in a non-reactive bowl and pour the lime juice over it. Let marinate for 15 minutes.*

Mix the cooling sauce ingredients together and refrigerate.

Pour off and discard the lime juice from the chicken. Mix the remaining ingredients together and coat the chicken with it. Marinate this for 2 hours (Make sure you work the paste into all the "nooks and crannies". You don't want to bite into a bland cranny, do you?)

Preheat a charcoal grill set up for direct heat to 400f (high side of medium). Once heated, clean and lightly oil your grill grates.

Remove and discard any large pieces of onion clinging to the chicken, it will just burn.

Grill the chicken 6-8 minutes per side with the grill lid closed. For nice cross hatch marks, rotate your chicken a quarter turn half way through each side's cooking time.*

When the chicken reaches an internal temperature of 160f, remove from the grill and let rest 5 minutes before serving.

Notes

The original recipe called for skin on, bone in. I only used boneless, skinless because it was what I had on hand. Bone in would be better, the cooking time will be more like 8-12 minutes per side.

I used one habanero and the heat was spicy for sure, but not insultingly hot. You could use something less capsaicin laden like serrano or a mild cherry pepper.

I was tempted just to mix the lime juice and other ingredients together all in one marinade and I'm sure that would be good too. But I think doing the two separate does give a nicer end result, the "wet rub" seemed to adhere better and you keep the color.

Another quick "chicken beauty" trick - I like to brush my grilled chicken in the last few minutes with a light gloss coat of oil/lime juice (50/50 mix). This reinforces the hints of acidity and gives it a shine.

Tip: I also made the Caribbean classic side dish, peas and rice. They use "pigeon peas" which I couldn't find in the past, so I've always used black eyed peas. Raichlen points out that "pigeon peas" are also known as crowder peas. Those are easy to find, I had cans in my pantry already!

Don't be worried when your chicken is freakishly orange at first, it's just paprika.

Just after I glossed lightly with oil/lime juice.

The house smelled so good when we brought the chicken in from the grill!

I bought this book a few years ago and reference it frequently. It has a wide variety of excellent tasting, easy to follow recipes. But better than just a recipe collection, The Barbecue Bible is also loaded full of grilling skills, tips, and techniques. My favorite and most often used features are the time/temp charts for various types and cuts of meat and veggies. The Barbecue Bible is a must have for any newbie griller or any well seasoned pit monkey like myself. It is easily one of my top 3 of ALL my cooking related books (not just bbq/grilling books).

For rib lovers, here is a head's up. In May 2012, Workman will publish a revised edition of Raichlen on Ribs: The new title will be The Best Ribs Ever. The new book will feature three regional American rib menus with sizzling new recipes

Winter Blahs

So how do you deal with winter blahs? Do you embrace them and make a lot of stews, casseroles and comfort dishes? Do you "cook your way back into summer" with summer dishes? Or do you just hide under a heavy blanket until spring arrives?

Standard Disclaimer: I received no compensation for this post. I paid full price for Barbecue Bible although Workman Publishing Company did give me a review copy of Planet Barbecue in 2010.

I tend to not suffer from the winter blahs, I'm fortunate enough to live where winter as most people know it is pretty much non-existent! With that said, if I did suffer from the winter blues, this is what I would make to get me out of them! Heck, I'm going to make it anyway.. you can never have too much summer in the desert, right? :)

Winter doesn't bother me much... Just plow the roads and get on with it. But this chicken makes me think of summer grilling and hoping for an early spring to uncover the grill. I'm stuck in crock pot mode at the moment.

Is it possible for me to read your posts and NOT have multiple thoughts flying through my mind? Before I forget, I went looking for you to +1 you to a post on Google+ and you weren't there. :( Well, you were, but you weren't really. Come figure it out with me! I think it's going to rock, once I know what I'm doing over there.

A spicy grilled chicken recipe that comes complete with a cooling sauce? Yes, please. Just send mine out here to the desert. Or better yet, I might need to find out when Jenn is going to make this and then stalk her in real life. What? That's illegal? nah...

That rice? It could not look more perfect. Love the styling in these photos. Your grill photos always look so perfect too!

I'm heading from here directly to Google to look up crowder peas. Sounds like something you would eat in Times Square while waiting for the ball to drop. I can conjure up huge enthusiasm to eat BBQ'd food, but no real enthusiasm for owning another grill. It's a personal shortcoming!!!

Wow Chris! That looks amazing. Somehow in all the years I've had that book, I don't remember seeing that recipe and I know I've never cooked it. Now I'm going to have to give it a try. Thanks for sharing.